Earlier this year Micke Langberg launched Rent my DVR, an online marketplace to buy and sell television programming. By scanning a web listing of television shows, one chooses what they’d like to receive. If a request is filled, the show can be downloaded for about 25 cents through a custom “P2P” application. Conversely, a person can scan open television show requests and agree to provide them. The provider receives payment of also about 25 cents upon delivery of a show. Langberg, based in Sweden, is vague on the technical details such as networking protocols used and the source of guide data.
When asked about the legality of his product, Langberg responded, “I can’t see that there should be any legal concerns related to our service, since it is exactly the same thing as asking your neighbor to record a TV show for you.” While he was adamant that BitTorrent plays no part in the equation, I can’t help but wonder where shows originate.
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hahahaha.. I LOVE IT!!! Stick it to those mega-media corporate bastards. Realistically, I can't see the courts siding with "Rent My DVR" as it permits re-transmitting the original broadcast.
There was something like this a couple of years back - only they recorded the shows for you, it wasn't facilitating trades like this one. And they got *stomped* and closed.
'Fair Use' isn't absolute. Time shifting is OK, but many content vendors have said they do not believe recording for others is fair use, and the courts have not, to my knowledge, said it is either. Also, when the courts allowed time shifting, they didn't mean archiving permanently either.
I can't see this site operating for too long.
However, how are the legal limitations in Sweden. Is it possible that what would not be Fair Use in the USA, would be considered Fair Use in Sweden?
This could be interesting. And if online gaming sites can set up offshore to circumvent US restrictions, why can't offshore content distributors?